


Keeping the Sun Turned On

by author_abz



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-05 19:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18372779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/author_abz/pseuds/author_abz
Summary: Tyson can't handle going to his ex-boyfriend Gabe's wedding alone (and not attending is not an option), so his best friend Nate volunteers to attend as his date. Except Tyson has a massive crush on Nate, so it might actually be worse this way.





	Keeping the Sun Turned On

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [andersens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andersens/pseuds/andersens) in the [wesmashing](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wesmashing) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  Disaster Gay Tyson Barrie's first serious relationship was with Gabe Landeskog. And Gabe is the son of Tyson's parents closest friends or someone they have a really important business relationship with or something like that. So, when Gabe announces he's getting married Tyson's parents insists he has to go. Tyson agrees, so long as he gets to bring his boyfriend. The problem? He doesn't have a boyfriend. But his best bro Nate is more than happy to step up. Which is great, except Tyson totally has a massive crush on Nate. But he decides to take Nate up on his offer anyway because what could possibly go wrong?  
>  
> 
> This is a work of fiction, so I made up a bunch of stuff - including forgetting to include both Gabe's father and older brother, apparently. Also making people married who are not and *hand waves* other stuff. Also who knows what sort of corporate jugernauts these people are heading up in this story. I certainly don't know, but I used my knowledge of Gilmore Girls and what I know about corporate culture/business workplaces in an attempt to make it sort of close to the truth. 
> 
>  
> 
> Also huge thanks to [ashisfriendly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashisfriendly/pseuds/ashisfriendly) for being excited and helping me sort through the nonsense as beta, and also for [Actual_Dunwich_Horror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actual_Dunwich_Horror/pseuds/Actual_Dunwich_Horror) for looking it over and reassuring me I survived the tightrope walk of this story. Many thanks! But because of timing and stuff if you see a mistake it is 100% my fault.
> 
> And big thanks for this being a prompt in the challenge because this could have ballooned out of proportion and I would not have been able to wrangle it without the deadline! Thanks for the prompt, [andersens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andersens/pseuds/andersens)!
> 
> PLEASE ENJOY!

Walking up to the church is so intimidating Tyson probably wouldn’t be able to go in if Nate wasn’t leading him by the arm. As it is, when his forward momentum slows, Nate grabs his hand and squeezes, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss it. “You look _great_ , it’s gonna be fine.”

 It makes Tyson smile and roll his eyes at Nate, continuing to follow him. He’s actually not sure he will be fine, or that he’ll still look great after he sweats through his suit, because attending his ex’s wedding is the absolute last thing he wants to do. But he has to; his dad had lectured him about the importance of maintaining business relationships with important clients and how often it involves social events. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard the lecture, paired with a lecture about him eventually running the company, with heavy reminders about maintaining a public image and keeping his private life as invisible – or closeted – as possible.

 Tyson’s gotten pretty good at enduring the lectures he always knows are coming, that he’s heard since he was a pre-teen, but for several years he hardly needed lecturing for non-business business events because that’s where he had met Gabe, and that’s where he knew he would see him. The first time he and Gabe kissed was when they had snuck away from the fancy lights and live band into a dark corner of the country club. Since then, the lectures were a lot harder to sit through. His dad knows that he and Gabe dated, but he didn’t know how long they had actually been together, or how serious they had been. He definitely doesn’t know how heartbroken he’d been when Gabe broke it off or how he’d only been able to manage one-night stands since then. Nate knows, though.

 Nate, the man now guiding Tyson by the hand into a massive church covered in fresh flowers and tulle. It’s just on the tasteful side of garish while still being absolutely stunning; Gabe had a hand in the wedding planning, Tyson can tell, and he hates it. They’re not exactly here early, but they are able to pick a pew pretty far back, surrounded by strangers. As they’re sitting, Nate asks Tyson if his tie is straight and if he looks okay – something he’s been doing practically every twenty minutes since they’d gotten dressed back at their hotel room. So Tyson takes the opportunity to look him in the face, straighten his already straight tie, and adjust his suit jacket not at all, and letting his heart feel its extra little pang seeing how beautiful Nate looks. “You look great,” he says again, and Nate rolls his eyes – again.

Of course, Nate _does_ look great – he had gotten them complementary but not matching suits for the occasion, and Nate hadn’t believed him any of the times he’d said how handsome, sophisticated, and gorgeous he looks. But Tyson meant every word and more, because even though Nate is his best friend, his heart has decided to ache when he was around - looking particularly handsome or sweet or otherwise kissable – which was _all the time_.

 Fiddling with his own tie, Tyson tries to sit forward and not focus on much of anything, but Nate intertwines their fingers. He starts to whisper normal boring small talk about the wedding program and the lady’s hat across the aisle, and hoping it’s a short service because of the heat, and Tyson squeezes his hand in appreciation. Once the prelude starts and family members start to file in, his grip on Nate’s hand is tighter, and he’d be worried about cutting off his circulation if seeing Gabe’s mother enter didn’t make him feel like a chasm had opened up inside him.

 Then Gabe is there at the altar, and the bridal march begins, and watching Gabe’s face light up makes Tyson feel like he’s shattering into a million pieces. _It was supposed to be me_ , he thinks, glad his tears will read like overwhelming happiness for them, but thinking how much he hates everything about today only creates angry tears because, _It’s supposed to be me_.

 As they sit down, Nate manages to release Tyson’s hand and instead wraps his arm snugly around Tyson’s shoulders and uses his other hand to hold Tyson’s again. He also takes the opportunity to kiss Tyson on the cheek, which reminds him of Nate’s reaction to his breakdown that morning – even as he was crying and awkwardly saying “It should be me,” he had held him in a firm hug.

 Holding him tightly, he’d told him that “No, it should not be you, because you deserve someone who wants you and loves you so much he’d tear space and time apart if he could. A guy who puts you first – who always supports you. Tys,” he’d said, voice quiet and fierce, “you deserve a guy who never wants to let you go. He’d do anything to keep you.”

 Somewhere between Nate’s strong hug, his words, and the conviction in his voice, he’d started to believe him. He and Gabe had been really, really happy together – and he’d seen Gabe’s face light up in his direction enough to know it was real, but nothing like the look on his face for his new bride. And when they were dating, Tyson was always fine with it when Gabe had to take a trip to Hong Kong for a month – he’d hated every minute they were apart, but he wanted Gabe to succeed and understood the sacrifices. When Tyson had a work trip of two weeks in Europe, however, every phone call with Gabe had been tense and guilt-ridden, even though it was a stressful trip and all Tyson wanted was a stable state-side voice.

 He uses the handkerchief taking the place of his pocket square to wipe his eyes – Nate had practically wrestled it on him that morning – and tries to tune out the ceremony. Based on the program Nate was reading, it’s probably going to be a long one. When someone from Gabe’s family participates in the ceremony, Tyson silently wishes them well while trying to forget why they’re all here.Tyson actually has to look at the ceiling once the vows come up and he can see Gabe starting to blubber.

 Nate doesn’t remove his arm or his hand all through the ceremony, and the steady rhythm of his thumb moving back and forth over Tyson’s shoulder keeps him focused even when everything else about this ceremony is terrible. Most of the terrible-ness comes from Gabe looking so happy with someone who is not Tyson, but there’s also the occasional stab to the heart when the song played is one Tyson remembers happily praising with Gabe, or noticing a small flower in the bride’s bouquet and throughout the church that’s Tyson’s favorite.

 Tyson breathes a big sigh of relief at the last trill of the organ, but that only leads to the receiving line, which is its own special kind of hell. Gabe and his new bride happily make their way down the aisle and out of the church only to come _back_ and start talking to people at the front and essentially dismissing them pew by pew, shaking hands and hugging _everyone_.

 “Oh, god,” he groans quietly, turning away from the aisle and into Nate’s shoulder. “I need a drink - why couldn’t we pregame?” he mumbles into the suit fabric.

 “There’s gonna be an open bar,” Nate says, and Tyson can hear his smile. He can’t figure out how to make this look normal, and Nate smells _really_ good, so he doesn’t move from his shoulder. Then Nate kisses him on the top of his head, and he wants to say something about him messing up his hair, but then Nate awkwardly chortles, saying, “We’ll get there, babe.”

 Tyson looks up at Nate’s face then, and he’s wearing an awkward smile, and looking toward the aisle. He turns and sees his parents standing next to their pew. “Hi Dad, hi Mom.”

 “Hey sweetie,” his mom says, her eyes wet, face beaming. “Hi Nate.”

 “Tyson,” his dad pauses, “Nathan.”

 “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Barrie,” Nate responds.

 “I told you to bring a date, not a friend,” his dad says in an undertone.

 “Nate is my date. He’s my boyfriend.”

 “I’d rather you brought a girlfriend, in future,” he says.

 “Nate is my boyfriend,” Tyson says with a low, measured voice, and then he watches his dad straighten up.

 “Okay – we’ll see you at the reception, right?” He says jovially, already walking away, and Tyson just nods.

 After a beat, Tyson realizes that Nate’s actually gripping his hand more tightly than he’s gripping Nate’s and he turns back to face him. “I’m sorry,” he says, because he is, but Nate just shakes his head.

 “I did stash a flask in the car,” Nate says, his face easing out of his tight awkward smile to a real one, and Tyson smiles back.

 It was a double-edged sword, having Nate as his date for the wedding, where they’d have to deal with Tyson’s dad, who always believed Tyson being into guys was just a phase he’d grow out of, and never missed an opportunity to make snide comments about it. Tyson hates it, but he usually just hires a lady date or takes one of his women friends so he doesn’t have to hear about it from his dad, or he just utilizes the thick skin he’s grown all of the other times. But today it’s Gabe’s wedding, so Tyson needs the extra support of someone that really knows him and really knows what happened. He also needs extra support against his dad – who’s always worse the happier the occasion – and he also really wanted to prove he’s fine. To prove he’d moved on even when he hadn’t – and Gabe knows too well that he’d never been interested in women.

 But Nate has a great support system with parents who love him as he is and are happy if they get a daughter-in-law _or_ a son-in-law. Nate, who works with kids in a liberal school district and plays on a queer adult men’s hockey league where they’d met – he wasn’t used to the absolute disappointment Tyson dealt with from his dad all the time. So even when Nate’s got Tyson’s back, he needs to have his, too. It’s really hard, which is part of why he tried to shoot down the idea when Colin floated it as a joke, and why he kept saying no to Nate when he first offered. Tyson doesn’t want to see Nate hurt, and seeing Nate hurt when he’s trying to help Tyson feels like a knife in the gut.

 There’s only about three pews between them and the newlyweds now, and Tyson whispers to Nate, “This is a good distance.”

 Nate adjusts his grip on Tyson’s hand and looks up in feigned nonchalance. “It’s still close – I can do better.”

 Tyson smiles and squeezes his hand again – of course Nate is going to try and outdo himself. In the prep for the wedding they’d not only decided rules for pretend dating physical contact, they’d discussed how they would make it through the night unscathed, and decided keeping a solid distance away from Gabe was the way to go. Tyson decides what distance of Gabe-closeness he’s okay with, and Nate promised to help maintain that buffer. Tyson doesn’t think it should be that hard to stay away from him with the number of guests and the huge reception venue, but knowing Nate will be relentless about it is extremely calming.

 When the couple is at the pew right in front of them, they fidget awkwardly, unclasping and re-entangling their hands, adjusting their jackets and watching as Gabe and his new wife – Mel – thank the people in front of them and then those across the aisle. Their smiles are wide and they both look gorgeous, and it’s as hard averting their eyes as it is to keep looking at them. Tyson and Nate both tense when they finally turn back toward them, and then Tyson stands, facing Gabe, whose smile flickers ever so slightly as he reaches out a hand.

 “Hey, Tyson – glad you could make it.”

 He shakes his hand, making his face smile, replying, “Of course – I wouldn’t miss it.”

 Tyson shakes Mel’s hand then, telling her, “Congratulations.”

 “Thanks, it’s nice to finally meet you, Tyson.”

 This stops Tyson’s throat and he can’t say anything, thinking that Gabe has told Mel enough about Tyson she’d want to meet him at all. But Nate is there, and he’s shaking Gabe’s hand, and then Mel’s.

 “Congratulations,” he says to Gabe and Mel together. “It was a beautiful ceremony,” they’ve managed to exit the pew now, and Nate reconnects his and Tyson’s hands. “You both look stunning,” Nate finishes.

 “Thank you so much,” Mel responds, “You two look great, too.”

 Tyson doesn’t see Gabe’s reaction because he’s watching Nate’s face, and he’s smiling genuinely at Mel while somehow throwing snarky daggers at Gabe. It makes Tyson smile to hear Nate use queer snarkiness to Mel and Gabe, because to her it’s all sincere, but he can hear the daggers whizzing by his head.

 “C’mon, babe,” Tyson says, squeezing Nate’s hand and pulling him forward. It leaves Mel and Gabe the opportunity to say hi to the other people in their row and finally – finally – Tyson and Nate are outside the church again, walking lazily to Nate’s SUV, hands linked.

 “Now comes the fun part,” Nate says, smiling as he hops into his car.

 Tyson snorts in response. “I dunno if it’ll be _fun_ , but it’ll be better than _that_ ,” he points in the direction of the church, “and we can drink.”

 “ _And_ ,” Nate presses on as he starts the car, “there’ll be good food and cake and some actual friends.”

 It’s true, Tyson thinks, inclining his head towards Nate – Colin and Jost and his boyfriend the freelancer, and he and Gabe’s mutual friend EJ, and some other people – who through work or not – always make it to these parties. “Okay,” he agrees, “it won’t _suck_ , but that doesn't mean it’ll be _fun_.”

 I’ll make it fun,” Nate declares, turning up his car stereo and dancing along. Since he’s driving and making a fool of himself, Tyson doesn’t roll his eyes, he just smiles so wide it’s embarrassing.

* * *

 

When they arrive at the hotel and locate the correct ballroom, there are several signs telling them that hors d’oeuvres aren’t being served for another forty-five minutes, and that guests are welcome to wait in the hotel bar. Nate swears at the signs surrounded by balloons and flowers, but Tyson isn’t surprised, and shrugs. “I figured,” he says to Nate. “We should just hang in our room.”

Nate looks annoyed as he grabs Tyson’s hand, but he takes it gently and leads them both to the bay of elevators. As they ride up by themselves, Tyson doesn’t move to let go of his hand, and Nate doesn’t either until they’re standing in front of their hotel room, Tyson fumbling with the key. Inside, he throws off his jacket and plops down on the bed as Nate watches.

 “You’re gonna get your suit all wrinkled, and I’m not ironing again.” Nate _had_ ironed earlier, but it was their shirts, while Tyson had tried to do his hair. He’d done and then rinsed out his hair three different times before Nate stepped in to take the gel from him, pushing a small amount through his curls. Tyson could see what it looked like in the mirror and wasn’t actually satisfied, but Nate had smiled so wide, declaring him done and perfect and saying how handsome he looked, Tyson let himself believe Nate and his smile.

 “I don’t care – I’m gonna wrinkle it at the reception anyway.”

 Nate scoffs as he sits at the top of the bed above him. “Okay.”

 Smirking, Tyson adds, “And if we were _actually_ dating our suits would _really_ get wrinkled because we’d come up here to have a quickie.”

 Nate makes a choked noise before he starts laughing, and Tyson cranes his neck to see him. He’s looking at Tyson, and his feelings flare up as they smile and laugh at each other. Taking a pillow, Nate moves – still in his jacket – so that he’s lying next to Tyson. Once they’re done laughing and smiling at each other, Nate looks over in the silence to ask, “So how you holding up?”

 Looking up at the ceiling to think, Tyson considers. “I don’t know… I’m definitely better than this morning… and my dad was one of the worst parts of the ceremony and I deal with him all the time, so…” He looks over to smile at Nate and sees that he’s watching him closely. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

 Nate smiles then, and it fills Tyson up with the warm glow of his happiness and it feels like a crime he can’t reach over and kiss Nate. He can’t kiss Nate because they’re not actually dating, and on-the-mouth kisses are even off-limits for their charade. They’d agreed that hand-holding and dancing and their general threshold of cuddling was acceptable, and Nate had floated the idea of cheek or hand or forehead kisses. Those tender kisses hadn’t been something Tyson was originally comfortable with, but they’d already proved useful, and as for the fear of too many of his feelings for Nate coming up, that was bound to happen anyway. It’s not the first time they’d been laying or sitting or hanging around together and there’d be a _moment_ like this one where he wants to kiss Nate so much it hurts. But Nate is Tyson’s best, closest friend, and he’d rather endure his break-up with Gabe a million more times than lose his friendship.

 Eventually Nate looks at the ceiling and Tyson can feel the mood shifting, being pulled apart, sticky and awkward. “Aren’t there a bunch of people down at the bar you could be, like, networking with?”

 Tyson scoffs, “Yeah, but hotel bars are tiring and my dad’s probably overdoing it anyway.”

 Nate chuckles, “Yeah, true.”

 “I’ll fix some damage later at the _open bar_ while I’m eating some goddamn wedding cake.”

 “Ugh,” Nate groans, “are you really gonna do business stuff all night? I’m supposed to be making you have fun.”

 Sitting up, Tyson grins down at Nate. “Drunk, fun, it’s the same thing, right?”

 Nate shoves him, sitting up himself, checking his watch. “Time to go.”

 Tyson whines a little about staying in their room longer, but arguing on the behalf of food and cake, Nate forces them back downstairs when most people have already found their seats at the round tables. The decorations are the same as the church, but instead of pews, everything is draped on tables and a stage and flowers line the dance floor. Everything seems like a little much, but Tyson wonders if in dim dance lighting it’ll be better. Nate looks at the seating location table for a long while considering there are so few placards left on it while Tyson slips the card from his jacket pocket into the large box labeled “cards.” He’s tempted to punch the box or one of the large presents sitting on the table next to it, but the box looks homemade and anything could be wrapped up – he’s not about to break his hand against a new iron skillet.

 “Tys – we’re table seventeen,” Nate says, holding the placard out to him, “but there are two Tysons listed – do you know Tyson Jost?”

 “Hey, Junior!” Tyson calls, as he sees Tyson Jost himself and his red-haired boyfriend – Jim? - walk into the ballroom. “Yeah,” he says to Nate now, “he and his boyfriend just walked in – looking pretty wrinkled.”

 Nate smirks while Jost joins them, putting a card in the slot Tyson just used. “Hey, Tys – you remember my boyfriend JT?”

 “Yeah,” Tyson holds out his hand, “I thought it was something with a J – JT, not Jim.”

 “Just JT,” he says irritably, shaking Tyson’s hand.

 “Right. And this is Nate,” he gestures lamely as the other Tyson extends his hand. “My boyfriend,” he adds belatedly.

 “Nice to meet you,” Nate says, shaking their hands graciously. “I think we’re all table seventeen.”

 “Awesome,” Jost says, and they all make their way over to the table that Tyson is relieved to see Colin and his wife already sitting at, and his mom and dad are sitting at the other side of the dance floor.

 “Colin!” Tyson says, claiming the seat next to him.

 “Tyson, Tyson, Nate,” Colin nods as they sit down, “Jimothy?” he asks politely.

 “ _JT_ ,” JT answers, exasperated as he sits down, leaning towards his boyfriend, asking in a low voice, “What did you tell them?” But Jost only raises his hands in an ‘it wasn’t me’ gesture, even though he’s laughing.

 Tyson avoids looking at Colin even as he sits down, watching Tyson and JT instead, and listening to Nate exchange pleasantries with Shawna, Colin’s wife. He knows Colin is watching him, trying to see if he’s alright, but he doesn’t look at him. Instead, he watches as Nate settles into his seat, already taking his jacket off and hanging it on the back of his chair. When he sits, he extends his hand to Tyson, and he takes it. “I’m fine,” he says, turning to Colin.

 The anxious, watchful expression doesn’t fade from his face as he says, “Okay.”

 “Oh, that’s right,” Jost chimes in, “You and Gabe used to date, didn’t you?”

 Tyson nods, but JT asks, incredulous, “ _You_ used to date _Gabe_?”

 “ _Yes_ ,” he answers, annoyed. “He was really into me, too,” he adds defensively, and is about to go on about how they were super in love and how JT can shove it, but Nate cuts in.

 “Until he lost his mind, I guess, so they broke up and now _I’m_ the lucky bastard who gets to date him.” And when Tyson looks over to meet his eye, he brings his hand up and kisses it gently. Tyson can feel himself soften, and then Nate smiles at him and he’s fine again, he thinks.

 He looks back over at Colin who’s still watching him and Nate closely. And Colin did know – of course he knows -that he has a massive crush on Nate and told him that attending the wedding with Nate was a _bad idea_ , but Tyson’s only other plan was to go with _Colin_ , except Colin knew Gabe, too, and Gabe knew about him having a wife, and also, they were invited to the wedding. Tyson hadn’t actually asked Nate to be his date when he was trying to come up with a better idea with Colin (“don’t go” was his top idea, followed by “go alone,” both of which Tyson had cursed a lot about) when Nate joined them and volunteered. Colin had tried to talk Nate out of it, too, but he stubbornly refused, insisting he was going with Tyson.

 So now Tyson will have to endure a night of Colin’s concerned and slightly patronizing looks whether he’s interacting with Gabe _or_ Nate. He just hopes he isn’t too obvious about it – letting either Gabe know how tough today has been on him, or Nate figuring out how massively into him he is would be a colossal disaster. Luckily, he just says, “Did you see Big Z brought Little Z?”

 “No,” Tyson smiles, “that’s great.”

 Shawna leans over to her husband and asks, “Should we get drinks now or after the bridal party comes in?”

 The table looks over to the bar and sees a line, which makes Tyson grimace, and there’s a communal sigh as everyone decides to wait, except for JT, who stands. “I’ll get us something – so you don’t get carded,” he says to Jost, smirking.

 As he leaves, Jost turns to the table, saying emphatically, “I’m twenty-one.” Tyson and Colin just nod – they know, Colin had bought him a giant stuffed rabbit for his twenty-first birthday – Tyson had brought the balloons and cake. The party got a little rowdier than an in-office birthday is supposed to, but, Tyson reasons, last month’s numbers were actually better than usual, so no one can complain.

 They make small talk about the traffic, the hotel, the weather, and who got chicken and who got beef for the meal. Just as JT returns, handing Jost a drink, the band’s frontman starts to hype everyone up and the spotlights go to the doorway, where the bridal party starts strutting out. There’s polite clapping for the parents, and polite clapping for the groomsmen and bridesmaids, but the only people Tyson recognizes are EJ and Bea, both of whom look extremely snazzy and kind of above all the finery. EJ does a ridiculous bow when he makes it up to the head table, and several people, Tyson included, whoop loudly.

 When Gabe and his new bride come in, there’s much louder applause and a lot more whooping and yelling, but Tyson stops clapping to hold Nate’s hand. Luckily they bring out food then, and Tyson doesn’t have to look at anyone except his waiter and his table mates – and Nikita’s daughter, who wanders over from a few tables away to say hi and steal some of Tyson’s green beans before her mom comes to get her.

 Nate and Shawna get up to get drinks when they judge the line at the bar short enough just after the next course has been set down. Colin uses the opportunity to lean over to Tyson and whisper in a low voice, “Are you sure you’re okay? Because you know Shawna and I are totally happy to make a scene so you can get out.”

 Tyson smiles, glad to hear how serious the offer is, and knows he’d do that for him, but he says, “Thanks, but I’m fine.” He matches Colin’s low tone and adds, “I mean, it sucks, but I’m not gonna have a breakdown or anything.” He sees Colin raise an eyebrow and adds, “I had one this morning.”

 That gets a smirk out of him, so Tyson thinks he’s done prying, but his eyes dart covertly to the bar, where Tyson can also see Nate and Shawna chatting while the bartender makes their drinks, and he can feel himself smiling. “Are you sure you’re okay here _with Nate_?” he asks cautiously, and Tyson can hear the unasked, ‘you’re sure you won’t get hurt?’ and _that_ hurts Tyson. He’s trying to enjoy what affection Nate’s giving him, affection he needs to get through today, and if he’s falling more for Nate by spending time with him – well, that was gonna happen anyway. If he gets hurt today he was always gonna get hurt.

 “Nate’s been great,” is what he says, adding “I’ll be fine,” to try and make him stop with his skeptical face. Instead, Colin gives him a look that says ‘it’s your funeral’ and they start eating before they get drinks from their respective dates.

 Tyson’s managing to figure out how he can still have fun at the reception as they eat, because the food is good, the drinks are good, and he has fun with the people at his table, and a few people around the room, too. But in no time, the champagne gets poured for everyone and the room gets quiet again for _toasts_ , and Tyson has to stop himself from burying his head in Nate’s shoulder again. He must send out a ‘help me’ look to the Wilsons because they both respond with helpless ‘I’m sorry’ looks.

 Three of the bridesmaids stand at the same time and Tyson wonders briefly if the entire wedding party will be making a toast individually, but it turns out to be a group speech. They tell a story about the string of duds Mel had dated before and how unhappy she’d been, and then how meeting Gabe transformed her life into the happiest they’ve ever seen her, and everyone toasts. The groomsmen all glance awkwardly at each other as the microphone is passed down to their end of the table until EJ rolls his eyes and takes it, standing.

 EJ clears his throat and taps the mike until there’s some feedback, and addresses the room. “I thought about writing this down, and then I didn’t, so – sorry.” That gets a laugh and he smiles. “I’ve known Gabe a long time,” he starts, and Tyson almost laughs at that. EJ’s known Gabe maybe six months longer than Tyson has, but maybe to some people that is a long time. They’ve all certainly hung out together enough that they know each other like old friends, but all of them being forced to attend all the same fancy events and hanging out after sneaking off with stolen booze doesn’t exactly equal long time friends to Tyson, but his worldview might be a little warped – Nate and Colin have both told him that.

 “And knowing Gabe a long time,” he continues, “I didn’t think he would _ever_ find somebody. He was always too nice to the people he didn’t like, and he was really mean to the people he did like.” EJ pauses so people can laugh and looks over at Gabe, who looks appropriately shamed by his previous self. “But the weirdest thing was he didn’t seem to care – he was totally fine with his life – and I thought he was the weirdest guy who was secretly unhappy-” more laughs, “but then I saw him fall in love.”

 Everyone gathered actually “aww”s and Tyson can’t help but make a face, which makes Nate laugh, and then EJ goes on. “And everyone here knows in-love Gabe, so you have to trust me when I say that falling in love completely changed him into the handsome creature you see today.” Everybody laughs again, but EJ doesn’t stop this time, barraling on, “Except – _except_ he screwed that relationship up – breaking hearts – including mine.” The ballroom has gone dead quiet, and Tyson can clearly see Gabe struggling not to cover his entire face in his hands, staring daggers at EJ, and his wife absolutely shell-shocked beside him. But EJ continues, “So I was pretty mad at Gabe after that,” Tyson scoffs probably a little too loudly, “because I want him to be happy. But before I could stage an intervention, he met Mel.” EJ gestures, smiling fondly, but she’s scowling at him.

 “Mel, the wonderful, kind, amazing woman you all know and love. And I thought for sure he was gonna mess this up too – he liked her too much. But something amazing happened instead. When Gabe fell in love with Mel, he figured out how to be in love _and_ stay in a relationship that’s actually good for him. Mel,” he turns back to the couple and they’re not staring daggers at him anymore, “you are that amazing, miraculous person that got Gabe to be his best self, and I’m so happy for you both. Congratulations.” He raises his glass and the room follows his lead.

 Tyson and Colin catch each other’s eyes as they raise their glass, and Colin’s expression of disbelief mirrors Tyson’s incredulity so exactly he almost chokes on his champagne trying not to laugh.

 The head table is shifting awkwardly, passing around a mic until it ends up in Bea’s hands. She takes it confidently, but pauses, looking at the rest of the bridal party and then meeting Gabe’s eye before she stands up. “Okay,” she says loudly, “I’m the last speech, so no one is allowed to make a speech after me, so if you forgot,” she pauses, waiting for someone in the group to speak up. “Okay,” she visually gathers herself and turns again to the room, large smile in place.

 “My brother Gabe -” she looks at him briefly, “my big brother Gabe – well, knowing him since birth, I have to agree with EJ that he’s kind of an idiot.” There’s laughter now around the room, and Bea’s broken the tension, and even as he laughs, Tyson misses her all over again. “It’s true, Gabe’s an idiot all the time, but he’s _really_ an idiot when he falls in love. As his younger sister, I have to admire it, but since he’s only _two minutes_ older, I know I shouldn’t model my love life on his – even if he ended up in a good place.”

 When she looks over at them, Mel and Gabe take it as an ‘aww’ moment and kiss sweetly. “But since he’s such a disaster, I didn’t want to introduce my wonderful, good friend Mel to him – _especially_ when he was single – how could I do that to her?” More laughs. “But they did meet eventually, and I kept waiting for something to go wrong. I kept coming up with apologies about how I was sorry he’s so terrible, but he’s my brother – and I never needed them. Mel and Gabe, you guys managed to find the sweet spot, where you can handle when Gabe is forty-five minutes late for something, but you’ll yell at him – for an hour if you have to – if he tries to do something dumb a week before your wedding.” A look goes through the whole bridal party, some of them trying not to laugh, some outright laughing.

 Bea’s smirking as she raises her glass, “To you, my friend and brother, to finding the sweet spot of love. Congratulations.”

 Tyson raises his glass and drinks and wishes that he could have kept Bea in the breakup with Gabe, somehow. Sure, she was his twin, but she was one of Tyson’s closest friends. It manages to hit him that what she said is really true – he and Gabe were one-hundred percent head over heels in love, but it was the kind of love that made him unable to see straight. He’d started missing meetings and forgetting things, thinking about Gabe constantly, planning their future together and ignoring things in front of him. Like how Gabe’s receptionist quit when she realized he was dating another man, or when he didn’t realize that Tyson the younger was gay, or when he started dating a temp to everyone’s detriment – the new remote freelancer most of all. Even when they had broken up and he was walking around in pain all the time, even in that depression fog he still noticed more – like when he could finally see that the just hired off of his internship Girard completed his work outrageously fast and well, and needed bigger projects to work on.

 It makes a new kind of sadness wash over him, realizing what he and Gabe had wasn’t quite what he thought it was, and he drains his glasses as various waiters come around to clear plates. Nate leans in, then, “Should I get more drinks before or after cake?”

 “Yes,” Tyson responds shortly, and he watches Nate’s face change from intense focus into a charmed smile, and then he kisses him on the cheek and he’s off to the bar again.

 He likes having Nate get him drinks, but he likes more that he gets to spend the rest of tonight with him, and he feels himself smiling again.

 A debate about what cake will be served and whether they’ll smash it in each other’s faces starts at their table, and Nate’s back before they move on to talking about who else they can see at the reception. Jost and JT are already working on avoiding some people they know and hate, while Tyson and Colin notice a few clients in the crowd, along with some people they’d mentioned in a meeting last week they want to partner up with soon. Colin, his marketing hat always on, is listing off ways he and Tyson can undo whatever damage Mr. Barrie did and make a better impression, starting with divide and conquer, when Nate leans over to affectionately elbow Tyson, saying, “There are so many kids here.”

 There’s a soft awe in Nate’s voice, and when Tyson looks over at him, he sees the small, suppressed smile on his face, his eyes tracking one of the kiddos already running through the tables. He leans over to kiss Nate on the cheek, and the warmth that goes through him from just kissing him on the cheek is so much more than any of the times Nate had already kissed him. Nate leans in towards him and the kiss, and Tyson lingers in that space, looking out to see what kids are here and which ones he could point out to Nate.

 “Hey!” Someone practically shouts from behind him, making both Tyson and Nate jump.

 Tyson barely has to look around, “Jesus, EJ,” he says as EJ leans down between Colin and Tyson.

 “So’d you like my speech?” EJ says, grinning widely.

 “You better watch out, I think Mel might kill you,” Colin says idly, taking a drink as he looks at EJ.

 “I loved it,” Tyson says, “it excluded almost everybody and pissed off the rest – perfect wedding speech.”

 “Yeah, it’s too bad Bea didn’t tell me what she was doing, we could’ve coordinated.”

 Tyson shrugs, “Eh, maybe Gabe’s next wedding.”

 He sees Colin and Shawna both roll their eyes at him, but EJ ignores him, leaning over towards Nate instead, extending a hand, “Hi, I’m EJ, you must be Tyson’s date.”

 Nate shakes his hand, “I’m Nate, Tyson’s boyfriend.”

 EJ cocks his head in understanding and pulls a chair from a neighboring table to sit between Tyson and Colin. “Nate, I’ve heard a lot about you. I didn’t know you and Tyson were dating.”

 Tyson opens his mouth to say something like ‘it’s new,’ but Nate answers first. “Yeah, we weren’t telling people for a while because we wanted to be sure we weren’t just close friends who wanted to bone.” He says it with a straight face, but Tyson laughs both because EJ looks thrown off, but also because he’s heard Colin use the phrase “friends who want to bone” several times when he’s complained about how massively into Nate he is. It makes him reach over to Nate and take hold of his hand resting on the table, and smile at him.

 “Hey Junior,” EJ says across the table at Jost and JT, who’d been whispering conspiratorially between themselves. “This hunk still hasn’t dumped your ass?”

 “Nope,” Jost replies, smiling. “Haven’t screwed up yet!”

 “Screw you, we’re crazy in love,” JT adds, grabbing a fistful of Jost’s curls to pull him into a deep, showy kiss.

 As EJ puts his hands up in defeat, Tyson asks him, “Hey, how’s it going working with Girard?”

 “Sammy G?” EJ’s face lights up as he turns toward Tyson. “Oh, man, that kid is _awesome_. I can’t believe you kept him from me for so long!”

 “We had to make sure you wouldn’t corrupt him,” Colin answers, “You have a bad track record of ruining our associates.”

 “Well, you’ll be happy to know Sammy already insisted we mostly phone each other – and,” he adds, “he has respectfully turned down all of my nudes.” Across the table, Jost spits out a good portion of his drink all over JT. “I keep asking him if he wants them,” EJ continues unconcerned, “and he just keeps saying, ‘No thank you, Mr. Johnson,’ - that guy’s a keeper.”

 They continue to chat amiably as the cake is wheeled out and they all laugh as Mel, not Gabe, smashes cake into her groom’s face, causing Gabe, cake and frosting smeared all over he beard, to chase her and give her an extremely messy kiss. As the cake itself is passed out – chocolate - “thank fuck,” Tyson says – EJ gives the whole table fist-bumps, telling them he’ll see them on the dance floor. Tyson mostly ignores him, using the opportunity to go up to the bar and start talking to one of the clients he and Colin had spotted earlier.

 Their conversation goes well enough, at least it’s not awkward, and the man seems happier about a future conversation with Tyson than with his dad, and Tyson is able to grab another set of drinks for himself and Nate. The lights have dimmed by the time he’s back at the table, the band striking up a new tune, announcing the bride and groom’s first dance as he sits down.

 “I had to fight off at least four hungry men to save this,” Nate says without preamble, presenting Tyson an untouched slice of chocolate cake with extra frosting on the side.

 “Thank you,” Tyson says sincerely, giving Nate a quick peck on the cheek before returning to the cake. “And thanks for the extra frosting.”

 Nate just shrugs, “I don’t eat the frosting, you love it...” he trails off, looking anywhere around the room except the dance floor.

 The band’s frontman asks for other couples to join Mel and Gabe on the dance floor, and the rest of their table gets up to dance. Nate’s still scanning all around the room, so Tyson says, “I won’t be talking to clients all night – we can dance – I want to show you off.” Nate rolls his eyes at that, but Tyson turns out to be right.

 The song is just ending and Tyson’s cake plate is empty when a person wearing a very shiny dress sidles up to their table next to Tyson – Gabe’s mom. “Tyson, honey, I’m so glad you could make it!” she says, arms outstretched, and Tyson awkwardly accepts the hug.

 “Oh, you know I wouldn’t miss this!” he says with as much sincerity as he can muster, smiling at Gabe’s mom – who he always really liked.

 She scoffs, “Tys, I know better than that- and we wouldn’t blame you for making up an excuse.” The look she gives him makes him feel fourteen again, awkward but grateful for her ability to see through his bullshit, but then she turns smoothly towards Nate. “I assume this extremely handsome young man is your date,” she says, extending her hand.

 He takes it, “I’m Nate, Tyson’s boyfriend.”

 “I’m glad to hear it – and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how special this one is, you treat him right, okay?” Nate nods awkwardly as she turns back to Tyson and kisses him gently on the cheek before moving along to another table.

 Nate stands then, standing beside Tyson’s chair, “So that’s showing me off?”

 Tyson smiles up at him, “Yeah, that was kind of a drive-by though, Gabe’s mom doesn’t want to be too friendly to me.”

 “Because you’re Gabe’s first love,” Nate answers, looking out at the dance floor where a more upbeat song has different people dancing.

 “Yeah, but not that many people know that,” Tyson stands, wanting desperately to change the subject, because this isn’t why Nate’s here; remaining friendly with Gabe’s family doesn’t make sense in the world where he’s dating Nate. It doesn’t really work in the world where Tyson isn’t dating Nate either, he just happens to know all of the terrible things that happened in relation to Gabe and his family, and Tyson’s trying desperately to bridge the gap between that normal world and the one he actually lives in. “Let’s show you off to some people who will be surprised I have a boyfriend at all.”

 Nate raises his eyebrow at that, but Tyson just sighs and hands him his drink before locking arms with him and moving into the general mass of people ‘socializing.’ It turns out Nate is the perfect date for semi-work functions, even if he’s terrible at small talk and doesn’t understand most of the business jargon that gets thrown around. Everyone is charmed by how handsome he is, and he asks polite, innocuous questions while mostly letting Tyson do the talking, and offering to refill drinks at least three times more often than they need.

 Except when Tyson ends up in a drawn out, detailed conversation about sales numbers and rights permissions; Nate looks so bored and tired of standing still that Tyson uses a break in the conversation to lean over and kiss his cheek, telling him, “You should go dance, have fun.” Nate raises his eyebrow at him, but Tyson pushes at his arm as he takes a drink from his glass and turns back to the man in front of him he wants to close a deal with, and he can see Nate walk off. It takes probably five more minutes of amiable chatter about the global market and personal strategies for dealing with it, and he’s got a card and a promise to talk more specific numbers next week. Tyson’s flying high off the interaction, and mentally reminding himself to tell Colin asap that this one account means they can basically stop trying for the rest of tonight.

 Looking around he doesn’t see Colin, but he does notice his drink is empty and his brain is probably actually done talking business tonight. Once he’s at the bar, waiting for the bartender’s attention, he looks again and he sees Nate, surrounded by children on the dance floor, doing some incredibly dorky moves. He’s smiling at him, his heart full, and man, he isn’t sure if that feeling is romantic, but he knows it’s love. Before the feeling gets overwhelming, a pair of arms grabs him from behind in a hug.

 “Tyson!” Bea says right next to his ear, a little too loudly.

 He tries to turn around but she’s holding on tight with her chin notched on his shoulder. “Hey Bea. Great dress – great speech.”

 “Yeah, my speech was pretty good.”

 “Not as good as EJ’s, though,” he smirks, figuring out the angle he needs to look at her.

 She rolls her eyes, “No, but I think mine worked better.”

 “’Course,” he replies, smiling at Bea and then looking back to the dance floor to smile at Nate.

 They sway together, one of Tyson’s hands comfortably over Bea’s. “I’m glad you found a real hottie to replace Gabe.”

 “How do you know who he is?”

 “You’re looking at him with literal heart eyes right now – _and_ he’s the one you’ve been holding hands and kissing tonight. I pay attention, and I think he’s hot.”

 “He really is, isn’t he?” Tyson lets himself sigh and just be held by a friend.

 “Yeah. I’m glad you’re happy, Tys.” He feels a twinge of guilt at that – because he’s happy _now_ , but it’s a fake relationship, and tomorrow he’ll probably be even sadder than before, being mostly over Gabe finally, but not actually being with Nate sucks even more.

 “Well, I’d be happier if I got to see you more than once a year, Bea. Why didn’t I get you in the breakup again?”

 She sighs, but she’s smiling. “It’s this dumb twin thing – but Mel’s already tried to claim custody over me if they split, so you’re not alone.”

 He manages to disentangle himself then, “Just don’t be a stranger, okay? I’m still here.”

 She nods and goes in to kiss his cheek and give him a quick hug, “I will. We’ll have to make a date for me to meet your new man.”

 Tyson nods but feels suddenly out of place and goes to find someone who knows, someone he doesn’t have to lie to. He finds both Nate and Colin over at the Zadarov’s table, Nate talking to Little Z while Colin looks deep in conversation with Big Z himself.

 “Hey,” he says, and Colin actually looks up before Nate does, his smile wide.

 “Hey, I saw you talking to Henderson – _nice_.”

 “Yeah,” Tyson smiles a little in response, “I’m done talking business now, though – ask me about it Monday.”

 “Henderson is here?” Big Z asks, and when Tyson nods he adds, “I should go say hello.” He and Colin fist-bump and then nod as Big Z moves around the clutter of table, chairs, and bags, then he stops next to Tyson, leaning down next to his ear. “I like your new boyfriend,” he says, smiling over at where Nate’s sitting with the girl.

 “Yeah, me too,” Tyson responds, smiling, and Big Z gives him an affectionate shove as he leaves, allowing him to find his way over to an empty chair next to Nate. “Hey,” he says again, and resists the urge to lay his head on Nate’s shoulder.

 Nate looks up briefly from the hand-slapping game he’s playing with Little Z, his smile wide. “All done with business?”

 “Yep. I can be a normal person again.”

 “Good,” Nate smiles at Tyson as Little Z takes a drink, but then his eye catches something and he says, “So we can go dance.” He pulls Tyson up and then says, “Colin, your turn.”

 Colin says, “ _Yes_ ,” and is in the seat Nate was in before they make it past the nearest table.

 Once they’re on the dance floor, Tyson can finally see what Nate saw – Gabe and Mel making their way through the tables to the one they were at, chatting with everyone they encounter. Even if Gabe hadn’t been making a bee-line for them, it’s nice to get on the dance floor and dance like an idiot with Nate. It’s mostly jumping and swaying around since the band switched to covering contemporary pop and rock songs. After about two songs, the band gets quiet, their keyboardist picks out a slow, sweet tune, and the coupled portion of the dance floor seems to “aww” in unison.

 Tyson turns to Nate, prepared to suggest getting more drinks or cake, but Nate’s holding out his hand, a hopeful ‘why not?’ expression on his face. So Tyson takes his hand and they step together, wrapping their other arm around each other. They start dancing with the one hand linked together, swinging their arms comically fast, stepping out of sync together before they both laugh and settle their arms comfortably around each other’s torsos. Then they sway slowly, faces at each other’s shoulders.

 “ _I’d buy a big house where we both could live..._ ”

 “Nate,” Tyson mumbles into his shoulder, “Thank you...”

 “Hey – no, don’t thank me, please,” he replies quickly, turning to look at him, and there’s something familiar in Nate’s eyes, and a moment between them, and then he leans in and kisses him on the lips.

 Tyson can barely feel the shock of it as he’s kissing Nate back, slow and measured, but it’s still exhilarating, and it just feels _right_ , but something in his brain clicks and he remembers _this is pretend_. When he pulls back ever so slightly to get a breath, he can see out of the corner of his eyes that Gabe and Mel are holding hands, winding their way through the dance floor, making Tyson’s stomach drop into the abyss.

 Their noses are touching, and Tyson wants to kiss Nate forever – and Nate kisses him again, just a peck, but it’s enough to make Tyson lean back, trying not to think about the possessive grip of his arms or what another kiss would feel like. “Nate – don’t.”

 “Sorry, I just-”

 “I know, I saw.” Tyson cuts him off, leaning his forehead onto Nate’s. “Just – don’t kiss me again unless you mean it.” There’s a moment where Tyson realizes what he’s said.

 “ _And you can tell everybody, this is your song..._ ”

 “I can handle the other stuff, but not losing you… please don’t – unless you mean it,” he begs.

 “ _I hope you don’t mind..._ ”

 Tyson’s listens for a few breaths and pounding heartbeats before Nate moves to kiss him, almost chastely on the mouth. It’s over before Tyson can react, and then he’s smiling, and his heart’s growing to fill his whole chest. He leans forward to where he knows Nate’s mouth is and kisses him gently.

 Nate pulls back, “Tys – Tys – please don’t kiss me if you don’t mean it.” Tyson tries to look at Nate, but his eyes are closed and their foreheads are touching again, and Nate’s pleading with him. “I’ve liked you basically since we met, and you’re the best thing – I can be your friend, but not… only kiss me if you really, really mean it.” He ends, looking up at Tyson through his eyelashes, their foreheads still touching.

 “ _How wonderful life is, now you’re in the world_.”

 Locking eyes with Nate, Tyson takes a trembling breath and leans forward to kiss Nate gently. Gently, so gently, because everything is overwhelming and giddy, but it’s so fragile, and he refuses to mess this up. Nate kisses back, and he knows this is different, this is real, and this is the most wonderful thing to happen in his life. Their kissing deepens, and he thinks he hears someone yell “Holy shit!” and someone’s name, but he’s kissing Nate, so whatever it was doesn’t matter.

 “Hey,” Nate smiles toothily at him when they stop for breath.

 “Hey,” Tyson responds, pressing his body up against Nate’s.

 “We can probably go back to our room,” Nate suggests in a low voice, “it’s been a few hours.”

 “Nah,” Tyson answers, smirking, “I want to show off my boyfriend.”

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> I want the record to show that Colin Wilson is shouting to EJ very loudly that Tyson and Nate are KISSING, like FOR REAL and they're very excited about it because Colin KNEW both Nate and Tyson were super into each other and had to tell SOMEONE (EJ) and they just want their friends to be happy, guys! ~~(Oh, and EJ and Sammy will eventually actually send nudes and be super in love, I don't make the rules.)~~
> 
> The song they are dancing to at the end is OBVIOUSLY (a cover) of "Your Song" by Elton John, which is also where the title of the fic came from. ~~(I considered a Celine Dion song, but a) a band would not Attempt Celine, and b) this song works so much better and is so ridiculously romantic how could I NOT.)~~


End file.
